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Despite a highly emotional set of performances dedicated to the memories of several gay teenagers who recently committed suicide after acts of intimidation, Margaret Cho's time on "Dancing With the Stars" came to an end Tuesday night.

The comedian, who is bisexual, and her dance partner Louis Van Amstel, who is gay, sported a rainbow ensemble to show their support for gay rights, but were unable to overcome a poor samba performance that left them in last place with 18 points coming into the elimination round.

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Cho cried upon hearing the news that she wouldn't be back for week four.

"I thought the judges were really hard on me, but I think you were hard on me because you could see that I am a dancer for real," she said. "And I thank you for that. I will take that with me forever."

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Judge Bruno Tonioli applauded Cho for "wearing the rainbow flag," but said he was unable to overlook her missteps.

Cho took the opportunity to praise her partner as she departed.

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"I was surprised because I had the best teacher," she said. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to dance."

"I love you and our journey hasn't finished," Van Amstel replied.

After Monday's show, the partners spoke about why they chose their costumes.

"When I was a teenager, I was bullied a lot, and I felt insecure and very scared, and I didn't want to live," Cho said in an interview with People. "And I just want to reach out to these kids and make sure that they stay with us."

Van Amstel hoped that gay teens would find the strength to survive by discovering their talents. "I've been bullied for being gay when [I was] 10 years old because I loved dance," he said. "You just have to find out what you're really good at. Put your mind, body, and soul into that," he said. "For me, it was dance, and it was great therapy."

In addition to the evening's elimination, Tuesday's show offered another piece of drama in the form of Michael Bolton. The crooner returned to the show just a week after being voted off after scathing remarks from Tonioli. He called Bolton's last performance of the jive, "probably the worst jive in 11 seasons."

Bolton was back as a stand-in performer for Susan Boyle, who took ill. He sang "Hallelujah" with backing from a children's choir. R & B singer Ne-Yo performed his new single "One in a Million" and pro dancers Mark Ballas and Val Chemerkovskiy - brother to "DWTS's" Maksim - took part in a musical duel and then dance off.